This is my first blog post for the Glasgow Film Festival Trailer Competition. We had our first meeting yesterday and it was exciting to meet everyone and hear all the great ideas for the trailer! I’m looking forward to my first meeting with Mark and Clyde at ISO Design tomorrow morning!

My idea involves a literal play on the Glasgow Film Festival’s ever expanding presence and growth. With the GFF winning multiple awards (including Best Large Event at The Scottish Event Awards 2009 and the GAGA Audience Development Award), the amount of screened films and events increasing every year, along with rising attendance figures, it seemed appropriate to portray this in my trailer idea.

SYNOPSIS
A young couple walk through Glasgow and enter Glasgow Film Theatre. They reach their cinema seats and are astounded as they look up towards the colossal-sized seats. They strain to sit on them.
Line reads “GFF10… Now Even Bigger.”

SCRIPT

SCENE 1

EXT. GLASGOW SQUINTY BRIDGE – EARLY EVENING

Amazing view of Glasgow’s squinty bridge looking towards the city centre from the Southside of the river. WOMAN and MAN enter screen from bottom left. They walk across the bridge holding hands.

CUT TO:
Side view, WOMAN and MAN walk across screen. Finnieston Crane and Armadillo can be seen in the background.

CUT TO:
WOMAN and MAN walk down Sauchiehall Street. Art Deco Beresford Building seen in this shot.

CUT TO:
WOMAN and MAN enter Glasgow Film Theatre.

SCENE 2

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – SAME EVENING

WOMAN’S face engulfs screen. She looks up at the camera above her and drops her jaw. She looks utterly bewildered.

CAMERA pans around from her face to reveal enormous cinema seats. The seats are three times the size of the MAN and WOMAN. MAN stands next to WOMAN and both stare up at the seats in amazement.

CUT TO:
MAN assists WOMAN with a leg up. WOMAN struggles and clambers onto giant cinema seat.

CUT TO:
MAN and WOMAN sit on the huge cinema seats and look exhausted.

SCENE 3

TITLE: GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2010

CUT TO:
TITLE: NOW EVEN BIGGER!

Overall Look & Style:

Fun, vibrant colours to reflect GFF10’s style.

Preferably filmed in full high definition quality.

Strong, well-composed shots to advertise and promote Glasgow.

MAN & WOMAN to wear casual stylish clothes.

NOTE:
The 30 second sting will include all 3 scenes.
The 10 second sting will only include scenes 2 and 3.

If you have any suggestions for this idea, please feel free to comment.

In the very early days of Central Station, we asked members within the community to submit their ideas for our GFF Trailer competition. The call was open for one month and we were looking for proposals along with simple sketches, storyboards and materials to support the application.

We, and our partners the Glasgow Film Festival 2010, were delighted with the quality and the number of responses from the network. The shortlist worked with representatives of GFF, GFT and ISO Design, for their commission. They were: Allistair Burt, Lucy Elliott, Patrick MacDonald and Kim Stewart.

All four worked on the development phase on their project ideas with GFF and Central Station’s supervision, at the end of which one proposal was commissioned.

Read these blogs from the shortlisted creatives, find out about their processes and see the winning trailer:
Glasgow Film Festival 2010 – development by Alburt
Glasgow Film Festival… Now Even Bigger! by Kim Stewart
Glasgow Film Festival Trailer development by Kim Stewart
And they’re off by Paddy Mac
Glasgow Film Festival – cinema sudoku by Lucy Elliot
Iso-tonic by Paddy Mac
More GFF trailer development by Lucy Elliot
Glasgow Film Festival trailer…revised script by Kim Stewart
The Barter system by GFT
GFF final submission by Kim Stewart
GFF2010 Trailer – sound and music by Alburt
Gff submission yo by Lucy Elliot
Gff submission by Paddy Mac
Disbelief by Paddy Mac
Friday ramblings by Paddy Mac
It’s a Wrap! by Paddy Mac

So I’ve been frantically trying to get everything together for the final submission by noon today. (Not an easy task considering I’m currently in Sheffield for the Doc/Fest!)

I’ve managed to get a studio space for filming in Film City Glasgow! Also managed to source a green screen and lights and a great rate! I’ve met my three actors who all seem brilliant! Below is a revised script (not too much changed here)…

SCENE 1

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING

Everything is in darkness. A beam of light suddenly reveals glimpses of ambiguous shapes and details. The stark contrasts of light and dark create an eerie atmosphere amongst the forests of gigantic cinema seats.

Another light flickers sporadically. This flickering cinema screen light shows the silhouette of a COUPLE holding hands. An USHER, whose torch emits a strong beam of light, leads them.

SCENE 2

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING (CONT.)

The COUPLE pass what appears to be a giant piece of paper crumpled on the ground. The USHER impatiently signals to the COUPLE to keep following him. The COUPLE appear worried and look back uncertainly towards the paper. They meet one another’s eyes and their mutual anxiety is clearly demonstrated.

The USHER continues, walking underneath the giant cinema seats, with the COUPLE following, until he abruptly stops. He checks the two tickets in his hand, looks up and nods to the COUPLE.

SCENE 3

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING (CONT.)

The COUPLE reach the USHER and look up in astonished confusion. The USHER looks very irritated, sighs and rapidly signals for them to climb onto their seat.

The MAN helps the WOMAN by offering a leg up. The WOMAN groans, removes her high heels and struggles to climb up onto the seat.

The COUPLE are seated comfortably and the MAN attempts to put his arm around the WOMAN. She pushes him away almost instantaneously and the line reads: “GFF10… Now Even Bigger!”

NOTES ON STYLE OF TRAILER

The trailer will be in black and white with a film noir feel. The music score will build up the suspense and eeriness of the unknown giant landscape the COUPLE are in. A rough scale of 1:10 will be used for shrinking the actors in After Effects. (Think ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ and ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’).

The trailer will be a combination of wide and tight locked shots (with a couple of moving point of view shots from the actors looking up at the chairs). The action will be filmed on a green screen and superimposed on pre-specified detailed stills of cinema seats. The whole sequence will include a continuous flickering light source to emulate light from the cinema screen.

ACTORS:

Actress Role: WOMAN – Vivien Louise Taylor

Actor Role: MAN – Jonny Boag

Actor Role: USHER – Alfie Wellcoat
Venue: Film City Glasgow

I have managed to arrange payment in kind through an arrangement with Glasgow Film Theatre for the hire of this venue. I visited the space on Tuesday evening and it’s perfect for what I require. It has a stage which will help when it comes to filming the shots from above the actors.

Equipment Hire: Progressive Hire

I have provisionally booked lights and a big green screen from Donald at Progressive Hire. I got a really great deal (thanks Yvonne!) and they are going to deliver the equipment on Wednesday 11th November for filming. I have also arranged separate insurance for this equipment.

Taster Images

Other than this, we’ve been reading your posts about the development of your trailer ideas and are very excited to see how things are coming together. Can’t wait to hear more…

I’ve been working away on a new script for my next meeting with Mark and Clyde on Monday morning. Please let me know what you think…

SCENE 1

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING

Everything is in darkness. A beam of light suddenly reveals glimpses of ambiguous shapes and details. The stark contrasts of light and dark create an eerie atmosphere amongst the forests of gigantic cinema seats.

Another light flickers sporadically. This flickering cinema screen light shows the silhouette of a COUPLE holding hands. An USHER, whose torch emits a strong beam of light, leads them.

SCENE 2

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING (CONT.)

The COUPLE pass what appears to be a giant piece of paper crumpled on the ground. The USHER impatiently signals to the COUPLE to keep following him. The COUPLE appear worried and look back uncertainly towards the paper. They meet one another’s eyes and their mutual anxiety is clearly demonstrated.

The USHER continues walking underneath the giant cinema seats and abruptly stops. He checks the two tickets in his hand, looks up and nods to the COUPLE.

SCENE 3

INT. GLASGOW FILM THEATRE – EVENING (CONT.)

The USHER pulls a long rope from underneath a giant cinema seat. He reels the rope in quickly. This action pulls the cinema seat down.

The COUPLE look up in astonished confusion. The USHER looks very irritated, sighs and rapidly signals for them to climb onto their seat.

The MAN helps the WOMAN by offering a leg up. The WOMAN groans, removes her high heels and struggles to climb up onto the seat.

The COUPLE are seated comfortably and signal to the USHER. The USHER acknowledges this and releases the rope. The seat immediately collapses back into itself. Just before the COUPLE are squashed by it, cut to line which reads: “GFF10… Now Even Bigger!”

Notes

The trailer will be in black and white with a film noir feel. The music score will build up the suspense and eeriness of the unknown giant landscape the COUPLE are in.

The trailer will be a combination of wide and tight locked shots. The action will be filmed on a green screen and superimposed on particular detailed stills of cinema seats.

ALSO…

Still seeking a lighting technician with their own equipment if anyone knows of anyone?… And if anyone happens to own a green screen (which they’re willing to loan out preferably for free) that’d be awesome!

Had my first meeting with Mark and Clyde at ISO Design this morning! They were very helpful and I’ve come away with loads of new ideas for the development of my trailer. I also met the lovely Central Station ladies and it gave me a chance to discuss my idea with them as well!

I’m going to ditch the first scene as this seems superfluous and was originally only included to advertise Glasgow. Instead, the entire trailer will focus on the couple exploring and contending with obstacles to reach their gigantic cinema seats. The whole trailer will be in black and white (sort of a film noir 1940s feel)… The production can be achieved with high definition stills of cinema seats and aisles, a green screen and simple locked shots for filming.

I’ve got loads of work to do between now and my second development meeting (next Tuesday morning!) So, for now I’m posting a new synopsis below and a couple of image sketches to get a better idea of the scale of the cinema seats. In a couple of days I’ll try and get the revised script up here.

[rough sketches showing my development of work for the Glasgow Film Festival Trailer Competition]

I might be looking for a lighting technician to help with filming the green screened shots. If anyone knows of someone (preferably with their own lighting equipment), please e-mail me!

Synopsis

A young couple are tentatively led by an usher through a cavernous-like space. Flashes of light from the usher’s torch give brief views of giant details (such as massive screws, huge number and name plates, etc). They climb over obstacles and eventually stop, astounded as they look up towards the colossal-sized cinema seats. A struggle ensues as the couple strain to climb up onto them, with the usher’s unwilling assistance.
Line reads “GFF10… Now Even Bigger.”